I’ve always raved about how much better it is to watch movies on a big projected screen, but there’s a small problem: projectors are prohibitively expensive. Though you can get a half-decent 40-inch HDTV now for less than $500, even a budget projector will set you back at least $750 for 720p quality – and remember, any pixellation is infinitely more noticeable once it’s being blown up to typical projection size, so standard definition just isn’t an option anymore.

We’ve purchased a budget LED projector to see if you can get that same big screen experience from something half the price. It cost just less than $400, purchased directly from the manufacturer ATCO in China – including delivery. Not only does it offer an admirable 3800 lumens of brightness, but it also comes with Android built-in for media player capabilities. This is the cheapest projector you’ll find that does HD at a good brightness – you can buy “Pico” projectorsAAXA P4X Pico Pocket Projector Review and GiveawayAAXA P4X Pico Pocket Projector Review and GiveawayWhat if you could bring a projector with you, wherever you go, and easily display presentations, movies, and more with it? This $299 AAXA P4X Pico Pocket Projector attempts to make this possible.Read More for less, but those may as well be powered by a flash light.

First Impressions

The box it arrives in is the product box; nothing is wasted by fitting boxes within boxes. Unbranded, no fancy packaging – this is it. That’s $20 worth of packaging materials and design – you’re not wasting money on for a start. It’s a heavy package: 6.5 kilograms total, though only 4.5 kilograms of that is the projector.

Inside, it’s packed full of cables and adapters. Here’s what we got:

1 meter VGA cable

1.8 meter HDMI cable

Composite cable

Remote control

Wireless mouse

Microfiber cloth

Spare fuses and screws

Two pairs of red/blue 3D glasses

Mini-CD with manual and software

The specifications

1.5GHz ARM Cortex Dual-core A9

Android 4.2.2 pre-installed

1 gigabyte of RAM

802.11b/g wireless

1280×800 pixel resolution

8 gigabytes of internal flash storage/li>

50,000 hour LED life

The projector itself was well-packaged in the usual expanded plastic foam. The only form of branding on the otherwise shiny black plastic device is the letters HD on the top; it hardly seems worth the printing effort. There seems to be a space for a logo or badge to be glued on the front, but none is supplied with our model.

Connectivity

Around the back, there’s no shortage of sockets and ports, with all the standard component, S-VIDEO, VGA, as well as dual HDMI inputs and even an analog TV aerial socket. I don’t have an aerial on the house to test this, but I wouldn’t expect it to work with modern digital services anyway.

There are two USB ports and an SD card slot too: remember, this has Android built-in so you should be able to play media directly on it without the need for yet another little box.

There’s a 2W built-in speaker – and while it’s nothing worthy of high praise, it’s not particularly bad either, certainly better than some cheap laptops. Component audio ports are provided for audio output directly from the projector.

Picture Quality and Brightness

This is really what this review is all about: can you get a decent size and quality of picture, at a reasonable brightness? I’m not expecting to be able to use it in the daytime, but I don’t expect to need blackout curtains either. I’m also expecting a little pixellation from a 720p device given I’ll be aiming to project on a fairly large wall, but not so much pixellation that it really detracts from the experience. Big screen fun, basically – not cinema buff quality.

The diagonal projected image size it achieves is about 195cm (76 inches) at 250cm (8.2 foot) distance from the wall. Extrapolating that to a throw to screen-size ratio gives about 0.8, so you should be able to calculate how large your image will be. It certainly isn’t an ultra-short throw like the Optoma gaming projectorOptoma GT750 3D Gaming Projector Review and GiveawayOptoma GT750 3D Gaming Projector Review and GiveawayI love projectors; I have fond memories of nights spent in front of the projector with all my housemates, as we snuggled under the kotatsu (a Japanese heated table thing) and settled in to watch...Read More we reviewed: that thing could project onto an entire living room wall while sitting right in front of it on a coffee table. This device will do best in a large room, mounted on the ceiling or a shelving at the back. At smaller sizes, I couldn’t quite get the focus perfect though: when the middle area of the screen was in focus, the edges seemed to blur slightly. At larger sizes, this wasn’t an issue.

(Note: the ripples seen in this test shot are my fault for projecting onto a shower curtain, the actual projection is fine, so do watch the video for subsequent test output onto a plain white wall.)

The total light output is claimed at 3800 lumens. This is actually on the upper end of projector brightnesses, and would give you a decent screen up to about 150 inches even with a little ambient light – impressive, considering the LED technology rather traditional halogen bulb. The quoted LED life is 50,000 hours – though clearly this would be hard for us to test fully. It’s non-replaceable, but before you get your knickers in a twist, a quick calculation shows that at 3 hours per day, every day, it should last about 45 years. The fans will break well before then, and you’ll probably need to upgrade to a holographic 3D projector by that time anyway.

Focus adjustment is done by laboriously turning the lens, while a flimsy slider round the back adjusts the screen tilt – this is the only part of the build quality that felt a little sketchy to me.

Antutu reports similarly, placing the identified “MBX dongle board” with a performance score of 9417, roughly in line with a Samsung Galaxy S2. In real terms, it just feels responsive: XBMC was able to smoothly stream from services, and YouTube handled HD videos just fine.

The supplied wireless mouse helped too – rather than rely on a hybrid remote control that does neither job well enough, the mouse just lets you get on and use the system. You could easily plug in a keyboard as well given there are two USB ports – but for entering passwords, usernames, or searching YouTube, the mouse and on-screen keyboard certainly didn’t feel like a chore.

Summary

I’ll be honest, I’m really pleasantly surprised. Not only is it a budget-priced projector with very competitive brightness, but it has a genuinely responsive Android system built-in, providing media playback without the need of yet another device. You will need a good distance to project from for the best results, but come on – it’s only $400!

Our verdict of the ATCO HD Projector:If you’ve been looking for a big screen experience but been put off by the cost of entry, look no further. Value for money and added features make this a steal!710

I am extremely satisfied with something similar in setup for the past year and a half (except that it is two different units - the NEC V260x projector from Staples for 350$ and the tiny cigarette lighter sized Rikomagic MK802 IIIs for 55$).
This of course is a matter of personal preference since the Rikomagic TV stick can be unplugged at whim from my bedroom and made portable (to be hooked up with another HDMI TV/monitor source in living room etc.)

I was impressed with the features vs price, that I went ahead and bit the bullet. Ordering was ok, but there was not an option to get a white case, although their advertising showed both black and white. I asked for a while case model in a comment box, so we will just have to see. I will report back with what I experience.

If I had the money and an income and was looking for a projector, I would probably spend between $700-$1000 or so. I have never personally had a projector (except for the ancient slide projector my dad had), bit I did have one at a previous job and that was before HD.

Probably less than $400 for 1080p. Which is rather impossible, hence why I prefer HDTVs.... or I can win this giveaway! I've never bought a projector too, due to personal skepticism of picture quality and clarity, priciness, and that it just doesn't feel right at all when compared to monitors and screens. (*laughs*)

I'd pay $500 if it performed well under conditions I would use it in-failry bright room, limited control over projector to screen distance. It is for work not play so making the content look its best without drawing attention to itself is most important to me.

Thanks for the review! I'd think I wouldn't go any higher than what you spent on this projector, since it seems to do what it says it will do and it's half the price of other "name brands". Perhaps the competition will drop the prices of the name brand projectors in the future? ;)

Haven't purchased one before, and in my financial position it isn't something I'd really consider for any price at the moment. Maybe under $150, but I doubt I'd really find anything decent for that price.

I have my second budget LCD player, first was a mere vga projector from NEC (I think ithad the number 300) for about $400 back then, a real steal and I was happy for about 8 years. Then problems started, Now I have a 720pixel projector from Panasonic (PT LW 25H). While it works ok, it lacks connectivity (lacks speaker out, which is a pitty since the build in ones are not good, no HDMI), gives off too much light to the back and side of the projector which is a bit distracting when you sit behind the machine,and the Keystone comes on every so often without reason. It cost $400 as well, that's why I bough it. $500 isthe top price for me on a beamer, I am not crazy about all the extras.

Willing to pay between $200 - $300 due to the fact that 4K is rising and probably will be $500+ or more. The price I'm willing to pay should benefit the average consumer very well no matter what's their budget is.

depending on the features I would be willing to spend around 600 dollars but after seeing this model I have to rethink a few things.. For all that I use it for this would be perfect especially since it would be used by all household members and I would not freak quite so much when it left the house. Thanks for the great informative review

My use case for a projector would likely be at cycling and skiing events, as a volunteer for various non-profits. I would expect to pay upwards of $1000 for the brightness required, so this budget projector looks good to me!

I would easily pay between $400 and $450 , since this sounds more than competitive with other projectors in this price range.

I've been considering purchasing a budget projector for quite a while, but held off due to lack of justifiable funds. I'm glad I didn't, since this ATCO projector seems like an ideal projector for me! The LED bulb life sounds like an excellent alternative to the halogen bulbs other projectors use.

$400 including shipping sounds like right on the money! I have an Optomo that every time I use it I fear the bulb is boing to go out... with 50,000 hour LED, life is a dream! And Android 4.2.2? Whats not to love about this projector?

I'm expecting a projector with these specs would typically run $600 or more. What I'm interested in for this unit is build quality and longevity. At this price, I'd hope to get at least two year's regular use out of it. (It might make an interesting unit to project TV/movies onto the ceiling over our bed.)

It would depend on the features of the projector, so I would not lock myself into a price corner.
I have a 55" HDTV, so I'm not really in the market for a projector.
But if I were I would do my research to get the best feature set at the best price.
As always if you happen to be giving one away, I am game.

Ive got a thin, long livingroom with a picture window right in the middle of the long wall. Since we bought the house Ive said we need to have a projector that shoots up on a screen in front of that window. I think Id do $500

I would pay 3 to $500 for a projector. I have never bought one before but I always thought about getting one. Easy for video / graphical video presentations and a little saturday night movie on the side!

I had always thought a lot would need to be spent on a projector, which is why I have never gone for it - at this level it starts to become appealing, even if the quality doesn't match the high end models.

I've been looking at projectors for an outdoor theater, and have been hoping to stay in the $500-$600 range.

Also, I don't quite understand the part of the review that said " I don’t have an aerial on the house to test this, but I wouldn’t expect it to work with modern digital services anyway." If there's an RF input for an antenna, I'd guess there's a tuner in there somewhere? Would be interesting to mess with that.

For the price, this is a great value. It offers a lot of input options that make my current projector look like it came from the stone age. This would make a great replacement for my projector in my man cave, and I could eliminate a lot of excess cabling in use right now.

James has a BSc in Artificial Intelligence, and is CompTIA A+ and Network+ certified. He's the lead developer of MakeUseOf, and spends his free time playing VR paintball and boardgames. He's been building PCs since he was a kid.